The Inhabited Island comic book

The Inhabited Island is a 1969 sci-fi novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. In 2009 it was adapted into a two-part film directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk. The same year Art. Lebedev Studio releases a comic book based on the novel and the movie. This is the first Russian comic published in graphic novel format.

In the comic book the story is conveyed using ‘screen capture’ illustrations and speech bubble dialogues. This genre has been popular in the western world and Japan for decades. In Russia comic books are less common and are mostly considered light reading for kids. The Inhabited Island is not children’s literature, it’s aimed at adult audience. The main character, a space pilot Maxim, crash lands on an unknown planet ruled by the so-called Unknown Fathers. The entire population is stirred into a patriotic frenzy, but the alien is immune to the effects they use and succeeds in overthrowing the dictatorship.

Preface was written by Boris Strugatsky, one of the two authors of the novel.